This little book is a placebo: something to soothe the student nurse and entirely without stimulating properties. It is harmless to the extent that it will do no active damage but potentially harmful, for it may leave the baneful impression that it contains the subject matter of a course in pharmacology and materia medica. The course in nursing allocates about thirty hours to this subject. It is a short period, and too much should not be attempted. However, nurses have opportunity to see drugs and their effects, which should be the equivalent of added hours. Student nurses are graduates of high schools and have been accustomed to educational methods. They should be able to assimilate much more pharmacology and materia medica than is presented in this book of "essentials." The object stated is to present the facts and theories of the subject in a lucid, concise form adapted to the